Up next in 10
On recent cruise I met disappointed or frustrated passengers, while everything was going to great for me with no unpleasant surprises, and I realised it was due to some checks and things I learnt from smart cruisers to do in the the weeks and days before a cruise. So, here are 9 things that will transform and improve your cruise by doing them in the run up to leaving
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ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 101 cruises I have done to date.
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0:00
I'm on a cruise right now with many
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disappointed or frustrated passengers
0:04
while everything is going just really
0:06
great for me with no unpleasant
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surprises and it's all down to some
0:10
checks I did in the weeks before the
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cruise welcome aboard I'm Gary bembridge
0:14
and I'm on a Holland America two-week
0:17
cruise from Valparaiso Chile right the
0:19
way through to Buenos Aires and this is
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what I do in the weeks before every
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cruise that you should do too starting
0:25
with this one
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on this Cruise there are incredible
0:31
sights and things to do but so many
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people are missing out because they
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didn't do this first check they've
0:37
missed out a selling volcano at Lake
0:39
Toro Santos Lake the pet to Hawaii Falls
0:42
Falkland Penguins a Heritage train
0:44
through Tierra del Fuego National Park
0:47
in his Shire I always check excursions
0:49
as soon as the Cruise Line opens them
0:51
and again a month before cruising for
0:55
this Cruise excursions opened about 100
0:57
days before the sailing but on others
0:59
like region Seven Seas Japan Cruise it
1:02
was nine months before now because most
1:05
passengers wait until they're on board I
1:08
was able to get every Excursion I wanted
1:10
I made a note by the way of the
1:12
cancellation policy which is actually 48
1:14
hours with no penalty before an
1:16
Excursion so after going to the poor
1:19
talks on board I actually cancel one of
1:20
them because I saw self-exploring would
1:22
actually be better in one of the ports
1:24
and again with no loss I had every
1:27
Excursion I wanted I'm doing Excursion
1:29
check early also means that I know what
1:31
I need to Budget on the Strip excursions
1:34
added one thousand two hundred dollars
1:36
to my cruise by checking earlier I knew
1:38
how much I needed it gave me time to
1:40
save up or to look at less costly
1:42
Alternatives with independent providers
1:44
but there's another check I recommend
1:46
also doing at least a month before the
1:50
cruise
1:53
on this trip I keep seeing people having
1:55
to fit their dining around other
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people's plans not set their own agenda
2:01
around four weeks before the cruise I
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check and I make dining reservations now
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on some lines they're not on here I can
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also book my anytime dining slots as
2:11
well as specialty dining by doing it
2:13
then I got the days and the times
2:16
exactly that I wanted if I'd waited
2:18
until I'm bored I could see on the app
2:19
that my favorite times were actually
2:21
already fully booked again as there's no
2:24
penalty for canceling I could adjust
2:27
during the cruise which I actually did
2:28
to join some people that I met on
2:30
different days for dinner for example
2:36
now on this Cruise the check-in was a
2:39
bit chaotic partly because the port
2:41
agents were a bit disorganized but I
2:43
actually saw many guests were not ready
2:45
either now let me talk about the checks
2:48
and things that I do that made boarding
2:50
so much smoother for me first of all I
2:53
check if there is a cruise line app and
2:55
I download it while on home Wi-Fi and I
2:59
get familiar with it on hold America
3:01
their navigator app is critical for
3:04
boarding and again once you're on board
3:06
it's used to do the pre-boarding process
3:09
like the check-in the health screening
3:12
questionnaire adding your credit card it
3:15
then held my boarding passcode which is
3:18
scanned to enable faster boarding once
3:21
on board by the way it has a daily
3:22
program it has my tour tickets ability
3:24
to book dining and excursions check my
3:26
onboard statement chat with guest
3:28
services emergency contact details for
3:30
the ship and so on but also for this
3:33
trip Honda America used the verify app
3:36
where I could upload the required
3:39
vaccination proof and the covert test
3:41
that I needed for pre-screening it then
3:43
gave me a green good to cruise pass so I
3:46
could then use an express lane at
3:48
check-in instead of lining up like many
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other people had to do to have all those
3:51
things checked so checking for the
3:53
cruise line app and doing online
3:55
check-in well before the trip is key now
4:00
as soon as check-in has been done online
4:01
the baggage tags are normally generated
4:03
so I print those out rather than wait
4:05
until checking in at the Port I attached
4:08
them before I get to the port
4:11
now this sped up my check-in because on
4:14
the screws the baggage drop was some
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distance from the check-in area and I
4:17
saw people arriving without their
4:19
baggage tags being printed and attached
4:21
and they had weights in a line while
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someone had to find and confirm their
4:25
cabin and manually prepare baggage tags
4:27
so that just makes life so much easier
4:32
I also saw some confusion at check-in
4:36
and when I first was on board because
4:38
people didn't follow my next check which
4:40
is to carefully read every single email
4:44
that the line sends in the run-up to the
4:46
cruise even if they look repetitive now
4:48
understood for example there were many
4:51
changes which if I'd miss them could
4:53
have meant not making the cruise or
4:55
being denied boarding for example the
4:59
actual embarkation Port that we were
5:01
departing from changed from San Antonio
5:03
to Valparaiso they are really far apart
5:07
and arriving of course at the wrong one
5:09
would have been pretty disastrous next
5:11
as I've mentioned this Cruise added
5:12
specific requirements for vaccine
5:14
booster a covert test within a set time
5:16
period and then close to cruise rule
5:19
that if I had been in China it actually
5:21
had to be a PCR test not having these
5:23
would have meant denial of boarding also
5:25
close to the cruise they advised masks
5:27
were going to be required for the first
5:28
couple of days so I could then make sure
5:30
that I'd pack those that I like
5:33
an update also came with an allocated
5:35
check-in time of 11AM for me which they
5:38
were enforcing so arriving at a
5:40
different time would have meant hanging
5:42
around if you had a later time for
5:43
example so keep reading and carefully
5:47
checking every single email update
5:53
on this cruise I also some people
5:56
getting stressed out because after
5:58
handing in our passports because the
6:00
line retained them to handle the various
6:01
immigration the multiple countries we
6:03
were going to we were then told that the
6:05
authorities in Chile and Argentina
6:07
required us to have a copy of our
6:09
passports and a copy of proof of vaccine
6:12
when we were out in Port now many people
6:14
didn't have that but I have copies of
6:17
everything I create a folder for every
6:20
cruise that has everything from leaving
6:22
home to returning home it means I have
6:26
everything I may need to check along the
6:29
way now in this folder I have copies of
6:31
my passport vaccination covert test
6:35
Insurance my booking confirmation
6:37
itinerary transfers excursions and
6:40
flight confirmations and emergency
6:42
contacts on my travel agent I also have
6:44
a digital version stored in a Dropbox
6:47
folder which I set on my phone to be
6:49
downloaded so it's on my phone even if I
6:52
have no signal I have really easy access
6:55
in here to any document I could possibly
6:58
need if anything goes wrong and for
7:00
checking like if happened on my last
7:02
Cruise the transfer was not there at the
7:04
airport I could easily just open my
7:06
folder check get their contact number
7:08
and sort it out
7:12
another area I saw people stumbling over
7:14
was cash and paying for things in port
7:18
on this trip now while on many
7:20
itineraries tourist places accept US
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Dollars this is still something I always
7:24
check I saw in Chile Argentina Uruguay
7:26
and even the Falklands the US dollar was
7:28
not as widely accepted and nor were cars
7:32
and some cards weren't accepted local
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currency was required by many venues
7:36
Traders and by the taxis however knowing
7:39
that I wouldn't need too much just tips
7:42
and souvenirs for example I didn't buy a
7:44
lot of currency in advance because I
7:46
checked if I could exchange money on
7:47
board and they said they would and in
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small amounts I could just change small
7:51
amounts at a time I also though checked
7:54
I had US dollars in a range of bills
7:56
because I like to use those for tipping
7:58
and gratuities once I'm on board it's
8:00
also by the way worth letting your
8:02
credit card company know that you will
8:04
be traveling internationally
8:09
the other thing I've seen on this cruise
8:11
is quite a few people being really
8:14
unprepared closed and packing wise it's
8:16
been cold wet and windy and I've seen
8:19
people in the onboard shop scrambling
8:21
around trying to buy a warmer or
8:23
waterproof clothing before I go on a
8:25
cruise I check four things before I even
8:28
start packing first I download a cruise
8:31
packing list to remind me I have one if
8:33
you want that by the way but I also
8:35
check online if someone has done one
8:36
specific to the itinerary next I check
8:41
the latest on the dress code on Honda
8:42
America I know although they have dressy
8:45
nights it's not particularly strongly
8:48
adhered to and I can get away with at
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most kind of a collared shirt and some
8:52
smart dish trousers they also often have
8:55
an orange themed night so I bought
8:57
something for that as well thirdly I
8:59
review my excursions to see if I need
9:01
anything like hiking boots or other gear
9:04
that I don't usually take with me
9:07
then I put all the ports on my phone web
9:11
app to see what I need it was clear when
9:13
I looked at that temperatures would vary
9:15
from really cold to really really hot so
9:17
I needed layers a waterproof outer layer
9:20
a warm hat but I also needed swimming
9:21
trunks one other thing I check is are
9:24
there any first aid items I should stop
9:26
up on I've been really surprised how
9:28
many people have not appreciated this
9:30
itinerary has pretty rough Seas even
9:32
when we left Chile it's been pretty
9:34
bumpy we went around the Cape Horn which
9:37
was bumpy so many people hadn't brought
9:39
for example seasickness options on other
9:42
trips like my recent Galapagos trip it
9:45
was insect repellent and sunscreen that
9:47
I needed now I have a whole video about
9:49
packing and things to think about but
9:51
checking well before you start actual
9:55
packing is the key
9:59
another key check is home Arrangements
10:03
on this itinerary I'm in remote places
10:06
and as always I let friends and family
10:09
know where I'm going and how to get hold
10:12
of me I check on the best way to do that
10:14
so for example I found at my mobile
10:16
phone plan only gave me roaming with no
10:19
fees in Chile but in none of the other
10:22
countries it was really expensive and
10:24
there's also many many sea days on this
10:25
trip so I knew I would have my phone in
10:28
airplane mode most of the trip so I told
10:30
my partner sister and friends that they
10:33
must contact me through a chat like
10:34
WhatsApp I did by the way download Skype
10:37
I added credit to it so I can phone my
10:39
mum she only has a landline but I can
10:41
use Skype using Wi-Fi to phone her
10:43
landline now on this trip as I'm
10:45
traveling solo there are people at home
10:46
so I don't have to let the neighbors
10:48
know to keep an eye on the house they do
10:51
have a set of keys they know their alarm
10:52
codes though if there are any issues
10:57
one other thing I did was the week
10:59
before I go I checked the Cruise Critic
11:01
roll call for the particular Cruise it's
11:04
a great last minute catch-up for
11:06
anything that I've missed so for example
11:08
on this trip people that were already
11:10
arriving in Chile warm that there were
11:12
random cover tests at the airport and
11:14
you were quarantined if you failed it so
11:16
I was prepared for that and you had
11:17
worked and so on now if you found all
11:19
this interesting why not watch this
11:21
video where I talk about the must pack
11:23
things for a cruise starting with
11:25
something that most people forget see
11:29
you over there
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